DGBass

Yes, both cabs are damped with the same material but the MM does have a litte less of it. Mainly so as not to obstruct the porting mechanism at the rear of the box.

I have a couple of cabs from different manufactures of different era’s, designs, sizes, materials and weights with identical drivers in them( Faital Pro 15PR400). Both these cabs seem to be able to perform in a surprisingly similar way sound wise to the point it’s difficult to really tell them apart individually in a live setting. If anything, the MM is slightly brighter sounding when pushed, and works better in larger rooms, the TE goes all silky smooth when pushed, sounds very even tone wise and works well in either small or large rooms. At low volume which is the only time I’ve tried them together, the tone appears very even from both cabs. Neither looses the other. I suspect that might change slightly at gig volume. I haven’t used them live together because a) there has been no need because they are sufficiently loud on their own, b) I can’t fit them both in the car at the same time without a major faff. Just for info, the TE is 38 years old, the MM is 40+ years old. Had they been fitted with their original drivers, the differences between them would I’m sure have been much more noticeable when used together or on their own. So, Identical drivers in different cabs in my experience might go someway to narrow a cab mismatch if the cabs are reasonably similar designs and tunings eg ported + ported or sealed + sealed. The box itself will add colour/affect the sound in some way and as has been said already combinations really need to be tried and tested, preferably at loud volume where I think a cabs true character is revealed. The TE cab was actually a project to see if i could get the same performance from the bigger MM cab in a (slightly) smaller package. It seems to have worked well and i now have two very similar performing cabs that i'd be confident enough to stack if the occasion came along. If you have mix and match OCD, best look away now.

A lovely old amp for sure. The plexi panels front and rear would suggest the manfacture date is sometime in the 1960's. Marshall were famous for using up back stock of parts from previous years even when they changed models and they are known to have still been using plexi panels into the early 70s before they switched fully to aluminium control panels. Manufacturing date and originality are usually the most important thing where value of these old beasts are concerned. Saying that, anything Marshall from the 1960s sells for crazy money these days and the next step of anything pre-1972 is also jumping in value these days. I was lucky enough to have a 100 watter on my bench early in the year. It turned out to be roughly 1971-1972 vintage. Hadn't been fired up in over 20 years and despite a few crackles which were easily sorted, it was working fine and sounded amazing. The current owner and previous owner had some good history and stories to tell of when they owned and used the amp and that seems to be quite common for old Marshalls. Their owners to tend to keep a hold of them for years and years. Its good to know in those cases that they also still get used and aren't gathering dust on display somewhere or stuck in storage. I used a 77 MKII Superbass 100 and an 81 JCM800 Superbass 100 for many years and neither ever let me down despite being gigged hard and always sounding great. Both are on my list of things I wished I'd never sold. The one thing that this 72 amp did remind me of was the weight and the heat that comes from them. If any of my modern amps got as hot as a Superbass does, I'd be worried but thats just the way they are and always have been. Great amps.

Yes still could be a good buy. Until anyone looks inside to see whats needed, we'll never know for sure what it would cost to fix. Dave Green at Ashdown could no doubt work wonders with the internals but I'm not sure if Ashdown employ any panel beaters to fix bent metal work😆 I've had occasion to try and straighten out a bent ABM in the past and its fairly heavy grade steel these are made from. They don't bend out of shape or back into shape easily. Definitely a project for a real enthusiast methinks.

I saw this recently and for me anyway, its not more than fifty or sixty quids worth of parts without a few photos of what has happened internally. Apart from it being an ABM1200 which is a rare beast and fairly impractical for pub gigs, the damaged back panel looks particualrly terminal. Any impacted surface moves a fair bit in the direction of impact before springing back into place albeit in this case not all the steel panel has come back flat as it should be. The back board will be broken for sure. Both fans likely impacted the dual output boards and hit the heat sinks. They could be ripped out of position or the boards split. Either way thats two APC033 output boards, potentially two new fans, a back board and its possible the transformer could have been impacted. If that needs replacing you could be looking at a £400 repair bill in parts before the metal work is straightened out. I suppose if you already had an ABM1200 it would be and ideal source of spares you could pick at for years to come, but not for the current asking price. The case also looks like it has a split or been weakened at one side🤔 Must have been a very heavy impact and no telling what else might have been damaged.

Thanks for the bump G🙂 Umm...never seen inside an MK500 but they are simpler than your average ABM. These MK amps are getting on a bit now and were mostly new around 2005-2006 or thereabouts. Yoy can get the odd buzzy gremlin occasionally if the amp has never been serviced. Difficult to say what it might be but if its had a lot of use a buzzy noise like in the video could be a ground issue. Could be something as simple as a loose screw that needs a quarter turn on a ground post on either the output board or the pre-amp section. Could also be a dry joint on the input jack ground. Not sure if anyone has suggested yet but it might be worth plugging directly into the return jack to isolate the pre-amp. if the buzz remains, it's likely ther power amp section. If it clears its likely the pre-amp. All academic if its going back and the op isn't keen on popping the hood. I'd tend to agree with the contact Ashdown idea if its a keeper. They have the ability to sort it and check it over and seem to do it very reasonably cost wise. Big Ashdown's like these are reliable and great sounding but everything needs a little TLC now and again, even an Ashdown. The good news is that they are always easy to repair and restore to gig condition. Dave Green is the man the OP should call if he intends keeping the MK500.

You might be onto something there G😉 I did own one first time around in 79/80, a Blazer 800 in two tone sunburst, slab body and one piece maple neck. It was my first ever new bass after a string of used planks i'd owned. The fit, finish and quality was immense. It felt like and was a proper quality instrument and sounded brilliant through my Marshall Superbass half stack. The Fenders of the time looked rough by comparison. Seems such a long time ago and the photo shows that! Not sure if I'd buy a re-issue if that ever happened. Ibanez still make great instruments but nothing like they were in their heyday. A slightly better photo of it just before it was sold on circa 2010.

My covers band do indeed supply their own PA. Got me thinking though, the originals band I'm in also supply their own PA and thats my simplest setup. Bass - Lead - Tascam24. And of coure finally the PA.

I miss the days of bass - coiled curly lead - amp and everyone tuning up to whoever's bass/guitar was most in tune audibly before the gig. The audible tuning was unprofessional when I think of it but it let everyone in the venue know the band was about to commence. Tuning up with pitch pipes on stage was never cool. I have forgotten the power supply to my board on occasion in recent times and played straight in with only a clip on polytune for comfort. It was fine and the show went on. I do like my LMB3 and my floor polytune for muting though and I may yet slim things down to just those.

I've been using this vintage EVO300 head at rehersals of late and its quite impressive for 20+ year old amp. It's all original and has its factory 300 watt mosfet output board and XTE3 transformer. I've owned a few 300 watt ABM's and they have all done the job. They may not have the raw grunt of the bigger 500/600 watt variants but if anything they sound more refined and the mosfet powered ones imho do sound a little warmer and smoother. Not a huge difference in loudness between the 300's & 500's either when they are cooking at gig level outputs. I've always been curious whether Ashdown sell many of the 300 watt models these days as they rarely come up for sale used. Could that be because their owners like the 300's as much if not more than their bigger bretheren? or is 300 watts just an ideal size for pub gigs?

Ashdown on occasion come up with some super sounding cabs that seem to excel in certain circumstances. The ABM 4x8 is in my experience a tremendously good sounding cab in lower volume environments like studio and small rehearshals despite its massive power rating. It does need a bit of scooping on the low end to get the best from it or run with a second cab. Another cab that comes to mind which has an almost similar profile in my experience was the latest Rootmaster EVOII 2x10 sealed cab. Loved the sound of it, really was great for home and light studio session use but it really struggled in a live enviroment without even being driven with anywhere near the power it was designed to cope with. Used alongisde an RM EVO II 1x15 it sort of worked for live use if the power was kept well inside spec.

Not sure 100 watts of class d power fpr the beta bass constitues a hard sell IMHO, especially at nearly $800. Maybe 1000 watts would?. Could be a typo on the sale blurb?

A 100 watt class D head that weighs 26Ibs and costs $799 ( probably £799 if it is released as retail here in the UK). It's a novel approach. The amp and matching cabs do have a classy old school vibe to their look. The 2x15 cab is also rated at 100 watts. At a guess its going to be very efficient as the drivers are designed with 4 inch voice coils? Maybe all you really need is 100 watts to gig with and someone at the new Sunn thinks that. 🙂

I do miss the LM3 I owned previously. The Little Mark amps are a very mature and well thought out product that can do almost any genre of music. If I was to buy another class-d head, The LM4 would high up on my list of considerations 🙂

Storing a bass in a sealed gig bag for a period of time can cause unusual issues, mainly due to even small amounts of air moisture being trapped in the gig bag when its zipped up and left for a while. Bunging a silica gel dessicant pack in the gig bag will absorb any moisture that could enable corrosion or oxidisation of any of the metallic parts. Certain kinds of airborne spores like white mold can also cause fur on certain surfaces and even metal if they are trapped in a static environment and left long enough undisturbed with no air circulation. I had a bass I'd left zipped in a cheap gig bag in a cold cupboard for about a year. Half of the body was covered in white powdery mold residue when I eventually opened the gig bag to get the bass out. Wiped off ok with mild disinfectant without damaging the laquer. If you have furry white deposits on your pots its likely white mold. Left long enough it would spread to more areas. Silica gel packs are a good defence. Same with guitar cases, always worth using silica gel packs if you are storing something for a long time.

If its just basic patching you need to do to protect exposed wood on the cab and you aren't super fussed about matching the grain try searching for Grained Faux Leather Fabric Heavy Duty Leatherette Vinyl in your search engine of choice. Sounds a bit kinky but its legit and several big online stores sell it by the metre for around a tenner. Sticks well with normal spray contact adhesive, especially the stuff that has the fabric backing and as a lot of it is intended for furniture its quite hard wearing.

Yes I'd agree, its a rare combination in my experience. I feel lucky to have that in the here and now. It was worth the wait and I wouldn't change any aspect of my current band lineup 🙂

I would have been more selective about which bands I joined. The current crew are the nicest, amiable gents I've ever gigged with as well as all of them being higly proficient musicians. Having good players around makes my playing better. So many bands in the past were a struggle, drummers who couldn't keep time, guitarists who didn't own a tuner, singers who struggled to stay in key and my pet hate, band members who show up at rehersal and obviously haven't learned the new tunes or who don't show u at all. Especially if they were mates. Minor changes of less importance: a) would never have sold my 78 Jazz🙄 b) would never have sold my 79 Pre EB Stingray😬 c) I should have bought the 79 Les Paul Standard sunburst flame top that was in McCormack's January sale in 1980 for a grand. It was stunning, sounded and played amazing and its tone still haunts me to this very day. I'm fine with who I am personally even though the high mileage is beginning to show in many areas. A few less aches and pains would be nice nowadays. 🙂 Going back and making major musical/band changes can be a bit sliding doors. If I'd bought that Les Paul for instance, I might not have become a bass brother and be surfing on TDPRI tonight😄

Indeed. I see a few regulars on here still using their trad GK RB's, plenty life left in them yet. Strange though, GK always appear niche to those who have never tried them and loved by those who have and who know how good they are. Good all round amps and imho especially good for blues/rock music as the mid range availability is quite formidable. Not forgetting the boost feature🙂

I've always been more of an amp hoarder than a bass guitar hoarder. ATM I have four gig ready heads at my disposal. Trace Elliot AH250 GP11 head GK 700RB Ashdown Blackface ABM500 4U Rack using a Trace Elliot GP12 SMX stereo pre-amp with a Harley Benton Class D GPA400 power amp. Any of these will get me through a gig. I did have a Markbass LMIII as my backup amp until recently but sold it as it was never needed. I'll probably come to regret that as I'm playing without back up for the first time in years. So far so good. You do get to know each amp though if you've had them a while and can often tell when they might need a service. One bonus with having a few amps is that rotating them keeps the wear and tear from gigging/ rehersal minimal.

Its an American Standard 😁 No lefty option though.

Played a 5 string Yamaha back when emo and grunge were a scene. Of course everyone who was anyone on MTV at the time had switched to 5-string so I was conscious of widespread 5-stringism being possibly more of a fashion or fad with the times. The odd thing was the more I played that 5 string, the more useful it became and it was far from pointless. Listening back to some recordings i made then, the five string definitely made an impact on the overall sound. I think if 5's are your thing, the more you play them, the more you will enjoy them and find them pointiful .The grunge band didn't last and I remember moving back on to my 4 string P-bass and thinking wow! This is it. I tried to recapture that 5-string vibe a few years ago with a Ibanez Soundgear 5 but the point of a 5 string was lost on me by that time and I couldn't go back to having a big floppy B string used only as a finger rest. Niether 5 string I owned had the overall punch of any 4 string I've ever owned.

I owned a Fender bass with an S88xxxx serial number and it was a 1978 so odds on its a 78 or 79 you have. The neck heel might help narrow it down as it likely has a date stamp. The sunburst finish is consistent with those times. The fingerboard doesn't look original but fender did make fretless versions with both maple and rosewood boards at that time. I would guess you have a standard usa fender 78/79 with added routing for the Jazz pickup and emg electronics added at a later date. The fingerboard is also probably aftermarket but looks well done. I'd be inclined to keep it as is if it plays well and sounds fine. The nut obviously needs attention and maybe the foil job but thats a small amount of work required for what could be a fantastic players bass. Nice one.

I sort of did the signature bass thing a long time ago and what I ended up with probably reflects what I considered my dream rock bass was at the time. Before this came along I'd already had a few Jazz Bass copies, a Westone thunder and a couple of other forgetable budget basses. It also occured to me whether a signature bass was a customised version of someone elses design or a blank sheet on the design board with shape, construction and finish. I opted for someone elses design( a bloke called Chris May ) and I filled in the options based on preference and to an extent cost as back then it took me a while to save up for the whole signature bass experience. Here are a few of my specs: super slim jazz bass profile neck and nut width two octave neck graduated fretting bound ebony fingerboard Pre Cites Brazillian mahogany body and neck, thru slim heeled neck joint Flame maple top and matching headstock with transluscent blue tint German Schaller hardware includiing locking strap nuts Kent Armstrong custom soapbar humbuckers positioned to my spec VTT with master 5 position pick up selector wih tone filtering on each position - all passive I remember at the time being thoroughly excited about the prospect of having my signature bass and even now I'm surprised how it turned out. Almost forty years later it still makes me smile when I open the case and plug it in for a jam. Everything else since has been off the shelf standard as I've never had any urge since then to build or have built another signature bass. It's something i recommend everyone does in their bass playing lifetime. Hopefully you will get a bass you will never tire of.